Rioters' minds 'deadened' by sacred slogans: HC

new delhi: There was a well-hatched conspiracy in the murder of a local youth during the northeast Delhi riots as in order to take revenge from Muslims, the accused, who failed to perceive the "bottomless stupidity" of the propaganda, created a WhatsApp group as saviours of the Hindu community, a Delhi court has observed.

The court made these observations while taking cognizance of the charge sheet filed against 11 persons in the case of the alleged murder of Aamir Khan whose body was found in a nearby drain in the Gokulpuri area. Aamir was one of the nine victims, murdered by members of "Kattar Hindut Ekta" — a WhatsApp group created, with the specific intention to plan and kill Muslims in the north-east Delhi riots, as reported by Millennium Post from the chat's transcripts.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Purushottam Pathak said there was no doubt about it that prima-facie case for the commission of the offence, as alleged, did exist. The court will next hear arguments on framing of charges against the accused in the case.

In its July 20 order, the court outlined the charges against the accused — offences if proven guilty of containing a maximum punishment of death penalty.

The court said the members of the WhatsApp group, named 'Kattar Hindu Ekta', lost their individuality and started working with a mob mentality and

" 'Jai Sri Ram' and 'Har Har Mahadev' which are the sacred slogans and are attached to the victorious yelling had deadened their mind and paralysed their creative nature".

From the investigation and the statements of the witnesses, and the charge sheet, it is prima facie revealed that there was a well-hatched conspiracy amongst the accused persons and the same is evident from the fact that in order to take revenge from Muslims, some youths of that area who failed to perceive the bottomless stupidity of the propaganda, they as saviours of their community created a WhatsApp group," it said.

According to the Delhi Police chargesheet, the creator of the group is yet to be traced.

It has been found that the common object of the unlawful assembly was not only to kill but also to destroy all evidence of that crime... There cannot be any doubt that the accused who killed Aamir Khan were certainly up to their neck in the conspiracy and were thus very active members of the unlawful assembly, the court said.